The Ridgalite

The Rigalite focuses on the People who lived in Marina Avenue in the Ridges Estate in North Shields. Eddie Saint owns the Roaring venture a trawler moored at the fish quay- his crew work hard and play hard - one of them is Ron Lee a young lad who has aspirations of becoming a rock star. He was in the Royal Navy on board the HMS Illustrious as a trained chef before joining the trawler boat. The lads all tell him that his songs are crap because they don't wan't to lose a good cook. The story also tells of two rival shop keepers- Ronnie Hancock and Billy Burston have been each others throats for years- read the comic antics of both men. "The Ridgalite is an insite of life in the early sixties on an an estate with high unemployment and little hope - where every day is a constant struggle. There are some though who prove that if you have hope then dreams can come true.

55. 55

“Good night mother.’ Paula entered her room and opened the case that she had taken down from the top of the wardrobe and began packing her clothes. For the next three years Durham would be her home. She would be twenty five and Doug twenty seven.

Once the case was full she left it open on the floor so that she could add her toilet bag and bathrobe in the morning after she had been in the bath.

She lay in bed and tossed and turned all night as she battled against her thoughts but in the end sleep won and she didn’t wake again until the alarm went off.

The band boarded the plane bound for New York all their guitars and other instruments were stowed away on the plane. They sat in the seats and gazed out of the window as the aircraft a Boeing 747 taxied down the runway. It turned at the end then waited for clearance from the tower before hurtling down the runway and taking off.

The journey would take them around fourteen hours. The lads all waited upon the trolley dollies as they came around asking if anyone wanted drinks. The lads planned on getting drunk so that they would sleep later on. They were buying cans of beer two at a time and drinking them faster than the girls could supply them. They sat in their black coloured tee shirts with the Satan’s Claw emblem on the front which had been designed by Paul Caffery who was an art graduate.’

The trolley dollies knew that they were a rock band and they began to flirt with Barry and Ron who were more interested in writing another song as they supped on cans of Calsberg. Ron wrote the words to “Night Flight to Hades.’